Keeping a watchful eye on Portland's 'world famous' transit system Trimet! (known to the locals as the Trimess)

Trimess

Monday, February 25, 2013

WE THE PEOPLE

I
favor open meetings, especially where public interests are concerned.
Unions have amassed considerable clout by organizing public employees
and the people ought to be able to observe the negotiations that are
being conducted in our interests.

It’s
one thing for private sector negotiations to occur in dimly lit,
smoke-filled, back-rooms when only profit margins and stockholder
interests are concerned, but an entirely different thing when
considering public interests. I’m talking about First-Responders (like
Police, Fire, and 911 services), Medical (like public Hospital districts
& Ambulance services), Life-sustaining services (like Paratransit
& Utility services), and Livability services (like Mass Transit,
Roads, Sanitation, Parks, Libraries, and School Districts). The
governing bodies of these public interests ought to be transparent and
accountable to us–WE, THE PEOPLE–the workers who do these jobs ARE us,
our family members, friends, and neighbors. It is also for this reason
that many of these public interests ought to be protected through the
process of Binding Interest Arbitration, and it’s workers must not be
compelled to strike, slow down, or stop their work due to a labor
dispute with our governing bodies.

It
is doubly important, for the same reasons, especially when the
governing body of such a public interest is NOT held to account through
direct election by us–WE, THE PEOPLE–that we must clearly see how they
carry out their administrative and management responsibilities to us. As
a citizen I have a vital interest in said public service, that that
service not be disrupted by a labor dispute with my neighbor, that my
neighbor receives respectable compensation for performing said service,
and that unaccountable, non-elected rogue bureaucrats not obstruct
reasonable labor agreements between us–WE, THE PEOPLE–and the workers we
hired to do these jobs.

If
TriMet’s rouge bureaucrats are engaging the people’s legislature to
overturn our protection from striking workers, then they are
misappropriating public funds. WE, THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN, we want
transit workers to stay on the job, we don’t want the vital service they
provide to be disrupted over a labor dispute with malicious managers,
and we want the whole thing settled before it becomes necessary to
involve other departments of the peoples government (like the Labor
Relations Board & the Court system). If negotiations between
management and labor reach the point of imposing on other institutions
of government, then one party or the other has forgotten their
responsibility to us–WE, THE PEOPLE–and is not acting in the good faith
demanded by public service. This is why these negotiations between
TriMet & ATU 757 by all rights ought to be conducted in open
sessions, and in accordance with the Public Meetings Law. If one or the
other of these parties is not acting in good faith, WE, THE PEOPLE need
to know about it right now, before it becomes a further imposition on
our self-governance, and before it causes a schism between my neighbor
and me.

If
TriMet’s rogue bureaucrats are engaging the use of misleading, even
erroneous propaganda to cause division and schism between the workers
and/or WE, THE PEOPLE, then they are again maliciously misappropriating
public funds. Furthermore, and in my opinion, for such malfeasance they
should be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and
made examples of by their abuse of the public’s trust.

YES, OF COURSE, OPEN NEGOTIATIONS TO US, THE PEOPLE !!!

If
a mediator or moderator is required to control the occasional outbursts
from observers is necessary, then deal with that as any public meeting
does–ask them to conduct themselves appropriately. Failing that, escort
them from the room. Furthermore, I want to see a video recording of
every minute of these proceedings. Let every interested party convey
these recording on their respective websites, and let all the media who
is interested in the story cover the meetings from gavel to gavel. It is
time we all see what has been going on in these dimly lit,
smoke-filled, back-rooms; throw open the doors; and let the light shine
in.